Hammer Goes To Half Cock When Slide Goes Closed

[seimper]

I have a springfield basic competition full size .45 When I hit the slide release and let the slide go home with no ammo in the the weapon the hammer goes to half cock. I have not seen this happen before. When I have a magazine in the weapon and let the slide go closed and a round is chambered the hammer stays back. Is this a problem? Should I be sending it in to get fixed? I don't think I have seen it happen when I chamber a round but if I am at a shoot I don't want that to happen.

[BEDELLCUSTOM]

when dry firing the slide (letting it slam shut on an empty chamber), what is happening is the trigger is bouncing inside the frame and hitting the disconnect which then hits the sear disengaging it from the hammer letting it fall and stop on the halfcock notch. this isn't happening when chambering a round because the chambering of the round softens the closing of the slide enough as to not bounce the trigger enough to cause the hammer to fall. the hammer falling can be remedied by having a gunsmith check to make sure that hammer/sear engagement is correct, or you can add more tension to the middle finger of the sear spring to add pressure to keep the trigger from bouncing less, if there is a takeup adjustment tab on the trigger bow you can increase the takeup by bending the tab back to increase the takeup,or you can put a lighter recoil spring in the gun to minimize the harsh impact of the slide closing with a heavy factory spring. dryfiring the slide is really not good to do anyway, it just tends to create alot of unnecessary pounding on the hammer/sear. any or all of these remedies or adjustments should be done by a competent gunsmith. give me a call and i'll tell you a couple things to check to help you determine where the problem is.

[bountyhunter]

You may want to repeat the "empty slide drop" (no magazine) test with the trigger held firmly back as you release the slide. If the hammer does not follow (fall to half cock) it is very likely that the problem is an "inertia trip" as Mr Bedell has indicated. This is caused by the triggers mas having inertia and wanting to stay in place as the slide hits the frame and knocks the gun forward. The trigger trying to stay put applies a slight rearward force on the disconnector which can trip the sear.

If the hammer follows with a slide drop while the trigger is held back, the sear spring needs more force or the sear and hammer need to be recut.

I think this should be given to a gunsmith because it is possible to temporarily "fix" hammer follow by bending the middle leaf of the sear spring, but if the sear face has rounded over, the gun is still pretty dangerous and could double fire.